Melon yield and quality under management with increasing water salinity

In semi-arid regions, irregular rainfall and scarcity of good quality water contribute to the use of saline water for irrigation. In this context, this study aimed to investigate the effects of saline water use in the yield and quality of melon fruits. Treatments consisted of two melon cultivars (Sancho - C1 and Medellín - C2) irrigated with low (S1 = 0.61 dS m-1) and high (S2 = 4.78 dS m-1) salinity water levels, for each phenological stage. The experimental design was split-plot randomized blocks, with six irrigation management strategies and two cultivars (6x2), with four replications. The results showed that the total and commercial number of fruits were influenced by the saline water management strategies. The irrigation management with good quality water, during two days, followed by saline water, for one day, enabled the commercial production of melon, with a reduction of 33% in the good quality water use.